Computer systems have become increasingly complex and distributed such that an effective Event Management System is a key part of the necessary computer-system management and administration infrastructure. The Event Management System must provide notification of the occurrence of system events, timely warning of impending problems, notification of failing processes, identification of problem areas in a system and possibly automatically fix them before service availability falls below acceptable levels. The various events are collectively known as System Management Events (SMEs). SMEs are events pertaining to the health and environment of a computer system. Examples include over or under voltage signals, hot-plug request signals, over-temperature warning signals, chassis-intrusion signals, etc. These signals are used by the management system to maintain the system health, create a log of events, and notify administrative programs in case of failure.
The sources of SME signals are often distributed throughout one or more parts of the computer systems. The signals are often on different communication architectures such as the I/O subsystem, the system processors, or even sources external to the computer system such as an external disk array. Routing each SME signal as a discrete signal to a centralized location is cumbersome and expensive due to the vast number of SME signals, and ultimately results in additional pins and connectors and larger chips in an Event Management System. Additionally, the long routes for a large number of discrete signals may result in noise and cross-talk that generate false event signals.
In the past, software-based methods for Event System Management have been employed. A microcontroller would wait for an interrupt from a remote node. Upon receiving the interrupt, the microcontroller would launch a program process to read the remote node. The shortcoming of this approach is that it adds a latency from when the event has occurred to when it is reacted upon with a significant process overhead. The present invention is directed to a system and method for addressing these and other problems in an Event Management System.